作者指出，今天全球福音派教會的關鍵問題，是單單看重數字增長。為此，福音被沖淡，教會崇拜變成娛樂表演，耶穌那建立門徒的命令被置換成催谷「回轉」數字的策略。超級教會愈來愈多，但其對整全福音的忠誠，對整全生命門訓，卻關心甚微。後者正是七四年《洛桑信約》的遠象。他指出，洛桑大會的重要性，在於為了教會的生命與使命，重新發掘福音的社會政治向度。可惜第二屆洛桑大會無法承傳，反而重新確認將福音與社會行動分割的傳統。作者關注，第三屆洛桑大會是否淪為第二屆的橡皮圖章，還是按第一屆的精神成為那急切所需的改革的踏腳石。
A 21ST CENTURY REFORMATION: Back to First Principles
by Rene Padilla
A response to Hwa Yung's A 21st Century Reformation: Recover the Supernatural
The sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation left a profound mark not only on the church of Jesus Christ but also on the history of the Western world and, as a sequel, on the history of the whole world. Today, the state of the Christian church in the West and beyond is such that a similar reformation is urgently needed.
A key problem of evangelical churches all over the world today is the unilateral emphasis on numerical growth. For the sake of it the Gospel is watered down, church services are turned into entertainment shows, and Jesus’ commandment to make disciples is replaced by a strategy to enroll as many “converts” as possible. In my frequent travels I find an increasing number of megachurches with a very high rate of numerical growth but with very a low concern for faithfulness to the whole Gospel and the ethical dimensions of whole-life discipleship. One wonders what has happened with the vision of whole-life discipleship projected by the First International Congress on World Evangelization (Lausanne I, held in Switzerland in 1974) in its celebrated Lausanne Covenant.
Lausanne I has been regarded by many as the most significant world evangelical gathering held in the 20th century. There is no exaggeration in saying that the significance of this global conference was mainly in the rediscovery of the absolute importance of the socio-political dimensions of the Gospel for the life and mission of the church. According to paragraph five of the Lausanne Covenant, because 'God is both the Creator and Judge of all people,' Christians 'should share his concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men and women from every kind of oppression.' From this perspective, the mission of the Church must not be reduced to the oral proclamation of the Gospel -- 'evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our Christian duty.' The traditional dichotomy between evangelism and social responsibility is thus practically discarded.
Several consultations organized during the late 1970s and early 1980s by the theological commission of the Lausanne Movement – a commission chaired by John Stott – explored in depth the implications of these and similar statements made in the Covenant. The various statements that emerged from these consultations provide both a solid basis and a very rich agenda for Christian action in the world.
Unfortunately, Lausanne II, held in Manila in 1980, failed to follow up Lausanne I with regard to a holistic understanding of the Christian mission. To a large extent, it resulted in a reaffirmation of the traditional separation between evangelism and social action that has so deeply affected Western Christendom, especially in its evangelical expression, for the last couple of centuries.
One big question with regards to The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town this year is whether it will simply be a rubber stamp of Lausanne II, or whether it will allow the Spirit to use God’s Word and thus become a stepping stone for the urgently needed reformation of the church in the spirit of Lausanne I.
Rene Padilla is emeritus president of the Kairos Foundation and director of Kairos Books. He is a founding member of the Latin American Theological Fellowship, and author of Mission Between the Times: Essays on the Kingdom of God.
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